Job 12

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 No doubt ye are the whole people! And wisdom will die with you!

3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

4 I am become a laughing-stock to my friend, —I who call upon God, that he would answer me! The innocent and upright man is held in derision.

5 To calamity belongeth contempt in the mind of one at ease; It is ready for them that slip with the feet.

6 The tents of robbers are in prosperity, And they who provoke God are secure, Who carry their God in their hand.

7 For ask now the beasts, and they will teach thee; Or the fowls of the air, and they will tell thee;

8 Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct thee; And the fishes of the sea will declare unto thee.

9 Who among all these doth not know That the hand of Jehovah doeth these things?

10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind.

11 Doth not the ear prove words, As the mouth tasteth meat?

12 With the aged is wisdom, And with length of days is understanding.

13 With Him are wisdom and strength; With Him counsel and understanding.

14 Lo! he pulleth down, and it shall not be rebuilt; He bindeth a man, and he shall not be set loose.

15 Lo! he withholdeth the waters, and they are dried up; He sendeth them forth, and they lay waste the earth.

16 With him are strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his.

17 He leadeth counsellors away captive, And judges he maketh fools.

18 He looseth the authority of kings, And bindeth their loins with a cord.

19 He leadeth priests away captive, And overthroweth the mighty.

20 He removeth speech from the trusty, And taketh away judgment from the elders.

21 He poureth contempt upon princes, And looseth the girdle of the mighty.

22 He revealeth deep things out of darkness, And bringeth the shadow of death to light.

23 He exalteth nations, and destroyeth them; He enlargeth nations, and leadeth them captive.

24 He taketh away the understanding of the great men of the land, And causeth them to wander in a wilderness, where is no path;

25 They grope in the dark without light; He maketh them stagger like a drunken man.